Krause, Amanda, Miller, Dan, Thompson, Stacey, and Howell, Mark (2025) Utility-Value Interventions to Promote Interest and Value Perceptions for Undergraduate Psychology Research Subjects. In: [Presented at AusPLAT: Australia Psychology Learning and Teaching Conference]. From: AusPLAT 2025: Australia Psychology Learning and Teaching Conference: Fostering Wellbeing and Sustainability in Psychology Education, 10-13 September, Fremantle, WA, Australia.

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Abstract

Previous research shows psychology students perceive research subjects to be far less interesting and have less value compared to non-research subjects (Lloyd-Lewis et al., 2024). Two studies were conducted to investigate whether a utility value intervention approach might impact students’ perceptions. Utility-value interventions aim to enhance students’ motivation and/or interest in a subject area by showing its personal relevance (e.g., the connection between subject and one’s intended career). In both studies, first-year undergraduate psychology students from Australia and Singapore completed an online experiment which included rating 32 psychology subjects on a five-point scale for interest and value. In Study 1 (N = 181), participants were randomly allocated to one of three conditions in which the description of the research subjects was modified to highlight its relevance to (1) working as a researcher, (2) clinical psychological practice, or (3) a broad range of careers. As hypothesized, research subjects were rated as significantly less interesting and valuable than non-research subjects (interest: p < .001, d = 0.84; value: p < .001, d = 0.19). However, there was no difference between the conditions in terms of interest in (p = .837, η2 < .01), or value of (p = .889, η2 < .01), for the research subjects. In Study 2 (N = 180), in addition to the change to the subject description, participants also watched a brief video of a recent psychology graduate discussing the utility of the research to the three conditions (1 = research relevance, 2 = clinical practice relevance, 3 = broad career relevance). Parallel scripts were created based on real-world graduate feedback. The same presenter was used for all videos. Participants were randomly assigned to view one of the videos. They then completed the same subject interest and value measure as in Study 1. Planned contrasts comparing the research relevance and clinical practice relevance conditions revealed a significant effect for research subject interest (p = .009, d = 0.44) but not research subject value (p = .286, d = 0.11). That is, when research was shown to be highly relevant to work in clinical psychology students showed greater interest in learning research compared to those in the research relevance condition. This study has important implications for educators seeking effective strategies to engage psychology students in tertiary research subjects, highlighting the potential benefit of utility-value interventions in this space.

Item ID:	89129
Item Type:	Conference Item (Presentation)
Keywords:	utility-value interventions; utility; value; higher education; psychology education; research education
Date Deposited:	21 Oct 2025 00:12
FoR Codes:	52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5299 Other psychology > 529999 Other psychology not elsewhere classified @ 40% 39 EDUCATION > 3901 Curriculum and pedagogy > 390199 Curriculum and pedagogy not elsewhere classified @ 60%
SEO Codes:	28 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 2801 Expanding knowledge > 280121 Expanding knowledge in psychology @ 60% 16 EDUCATION AND TRAINING > 1603 Teaching and curriculum > 160399 Teaching and curriculum not elsewhere classified @ 40%
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